Page 14 of Accidentally in Bloom

The black front door was covered in cobwebs, but the original hand-carved flowers around the door handle were still there.

It’s dirty but gets a 10/10 for potential.

“We can always sell or lease the building, right?” Rose stuck the key in the rickety, rusty lock.

She turned the antique key and shoved at the door. The shades had been drawn down over the windows, and they filed into the dusty, dark showroom.

Rose flipped on the single gray light, and a wave of moldy stench hit her.

“Jesus Christ,” Lily said. “He didn’t die in here, did he?”

“Lily…” Rose elbowed her.

Lily covered her nose. “What? It smells terrible.”

“It’s just the old building smell.” Violet rolled her eyes at them.

“And the fact that he never cleaned, and there’s water damage somewhere,” Rose muttered.

The three of them stood in the entryway of the barren store, jaws hanging open. The bones of the store were the same as Rose remembered, but it was so, so much worse.

The walls were painted a floor-to-ceiling kelly green, and the windows were covered in a heavy layer of dust. Display cases blocked the light from the windows and held dusty, out-of-fashion ceramic figurines and fake flowers.

Wilted flowers sat in small glass vases, waiting to be given a home in the nearly empty coolers. A thick layer of dust sat on the old balloons and cards next to the register.

The shop was, to put it bluntly, pitiful.

Rose’s mind raced. No sane person would come in and think business was going well. How had he let it get like this? Did he even have customers? They were the only flower shop in town, so people had to come here, right?

The high ceiling was covered in a thick layer of grime that obscured the original turn-of-the-century ornate tin tiles.

Rose’s heels echoed on the old, worn wooden floor that was gorgeous but in desperate need of some TLC.

As Rose walked through the showroom, a wave of nostalgia hit her. She’d practically grown up here, playing in the back room while her father ran the store. She ran a finger over an empty display table, and a pile of dust collected on her finger.

“We can’t sell or even lease it in this condition. We’d hardly make any money.”

Violet shrugged at Rose. “A building across the street sold for about $200,000 last month, but it was in good shape.”

“Have you been up there?” Rose jutted her chin to the loft overlooking the store. It was a cute little space that overlooked the store with a spiral staircase coming down from it.

“Not in a long time,” Violet said. “He never wanted me to meet him here.”

“I guess, maybe...maybe he was embarrassed.” Lily’s eyes welled up. “Just think of him all by himself in this moldy, old place.” A tear spilled over and down her face.

Violet wrapped her arm around Lily’s shoulder. “No wonder he was always out visiting other people. He didn’t want to stay here.”

Rose had to ignore the emotions bubbling inside of her. If she broke down now, she might not recover. She wandered to the original marble and wood checkout counter that had been there since the store opened.

“I wonder if he even had any customers.” It was safer and easier to focus on business, not the complicated emotions running through her.

“Violet, would you mind taking stock of the plant situation in the back? Lily, can you go to the third-floor apartment and see what we’re working with?” Rose had to take control of the situation. It made her feel safe to be in command and make progress even in the worst of times.

“On it, boss.” Lily sent her a salute. Violet nodded and wordlessly went to the back prep room.

Lights blinked on the old answering machine, and Rose hit play. A handful of messages were condolences, but the rest were people placing orders for upcoming holidays or calling about store information. Her dad never had a website, and Google didn’t know the business existed.

A thought tickled at the back of Rose’s head. The shop still had tiny bits of income because there weren’t any other flower shops in town, despite the showroom looking like a horror movie.

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